On the eve of Independence Day 68 Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) reports there are 8.522 million people living in Israel today. When the nation was established in 1948 that number was 806,000.

The Jewish population numbers 6.377 million (74.8%), Arabs 1.771 million (20.8%), and others (non-Arab Christians, other religions, non-religious category) 374,000 (4.4%).

Since last Independence Day the population increased by 182,000, representing a 2.2% population increase. 195,000 births were recorded in the same period and 47,000 people died. New immigrant arrivals during the year number 36,000.

75% of the Jewish population was born in Israel (over one half are already second generation Israeli) as opposed to 35% back in 1948.

In 1948 there was only one city with over 100,000 residents, Tel Aviv/Yaffo and today there are fourteen. Among them there are eight with over 200,000 are Yerushalayim, Tel Aviv/Yaffo, Rishon L’Tzion, Petach Tikvah, Ashdod, Netanya and Beersheva.

The CBS calculates the population will reach 11.3 million by 2035.

In 1948 the world Jewish population was 11.5 million and only 6% lived in Israel while today the number of 14.3 million and 43% live in Israel.

In 1956 only 12% of Israeli homes had a washing machine as opposed to 96% today. Regarding refrigerators, that jumped from 37% to 99.9% and air conditioners from 10% to 87%. In 1963 only 13% of homes had a phone and today, 73% have a home phone while 96% have at least one cellular telephone.

In 1951 there were 34,103 registered vehicles as opposed to 2,965,727 in 2015.

On the down side, in the 1949 Knesset elections 86.9% voted but in the last Knesset elections, that number dropped to 72.3%.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)